Baltimore Mayor: Decision Not Made For Police Commissioner

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said Friday that no decision has been made for the police commissioner job opening.

In a presser held Friday afternoon, Pugh said she had already said the decision would be made by the end of the month.

“I’m not revealing names of where we are in terms of the finalists, I promised early on that a decision would be made by the end of October, a decision will be made by the end of October we are vetting candidates, I am excited about where we are, but you know we have police chiefs from around the country that are interviewing,” Pugh said.

“We want to keep it, you know, and there is a process, and what I’ve asked is that the final candidates come to me before I discuss who those final folks are I’ll discuss with the city council, that is the first step in this process moving forward,”

All of this started when a tweet came out, according to our media partners the Baltimore Sun, creating rumors across state lines.

Councilman Brandon Scott said he is arguing for a police commission so this sort of thing does not happen.

“I guess the big lesson of the day for folks who have not been paying attention to what the city council has been saying for years is that this is another reason that shows that the structure for which the police department operates is broken and needs to change,” Scott said.

Fitzgerald would replace Darryl De Sousa who resigned his position back in May after facing charges for failing to file his taxes for three years.

De Sousa, a 30-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, moved into the role following the firing of former commissioner Kevin Davis in January. De Sousa resigned 76 days after taking the job.

Gary Tuggle was appointed as acting commissioner but removed his name from consideration for the top spot.

The city police department received more than 50 applications for the job.

The top spot at the police department has been unstable for quite some time — 10 police commissioners since 1989.